SpongeBob works at the Krusty Krab, Bikini Bottom's most popular restaurant, where he is a fry cook and prepares all food served at the Krusty Krab, most notably Krabby Patties. The first episode of the series depicts SpongeBob applying for and being hired to this job. He says that it has been his lifelong dream to join the Krusty Krew, and that only now is he "ready". When he applies for the job, Squidward and Mr. Krabs, wanting no part of him, send him on a fool's errand for a "hydrodynamic spatula with port and starboard attachments and turbo drive". While he is out searching for one, several hundred hungry Anchovies arrive and overwhelm Squidward and Mr. Krabs. SpongeBob soon returns, having actually found a hydrodynamic spatula, and saves their lives by feeding the anchovies, showing off his amazing cooking skills in the process.

SpongeBob is not only extremely good at his job, being able to produce a Krabby Patty within seconds, but has a strong passion and an abnormal love for it; somewhat of a workaholic, he enjoys his job more than any other activity, and is saddened whenever he cannot be at work. He also has a similar obsession with Krabby Patties themselves; he has on numerous occasions proclaimed them to be the best food in the world, and in "Just One Bite" and "Shuffleboarding", he is shocked and horrified to see one thrown away. SpongeBob is one of the few characters to have fingers and the only main character to wear shoes. He is apparently very good at his job, because he is the Vice Assistant General Manager of Certain Things (Stanley S. SquarePants (transcript)).

SpongeBob's skills as a fry cook could accurately be described as superhuman; in episodes such as "Help Wanted" and "Employee of the Month", he is seen making them at rates of hundreds or even thousands per minute. He has won 374 consecutive Employee of the Month awards at the Krusty Krab. In "Friend or Foe", it is shown that SpongeBob, as an infant, made a perfect patty on his first attempt. In "Neptune's Spatula", he is able to pull the Golden Spatula from the grease, making him the "chosen one" of King Neptune. In that same episode, it is shown that the burgers made by Neptune himself are horrible compared to SpongeBob's.

Squidward, the restaurant's only other employee, runs the cashier and takes orders. Squidward is the polar opposite of SpongeBob; he hates his job (as well as the Krusty Krab itself) and performs it poorly. SpongeBob's and Squidward's boss, Eugene H. Krabs, is extremely greedy, selfish and abusive of his employees. He pays them extremely poorly, far below legal minimum wage, and is unhealthily obsessed with money. Despite this, SpongeBob is unquestioning of Mr. Krabs and looks up to him as an authority figure.

While not working, SpongeBob spends much of his time playing with his best friend, Patrick Star. Like SpongeBob, Patrick is childish, moronic and fun-loving. The two have known each other since early childhood, and are members of the "Best Friends Forever Club". Their usual activities include jellyfishing, bubble blowing, and various others. Their antics are of constant annoyance to their neighbor, Squidward, who has on numerous occasions been put in harm's way as a direct result of their actions. Despite Squidward openly hating SpongeBob and Patrick, they are completely oblivious to this and believe they are his best friends. SpongeBob and Patrick's favourite superheroes are Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, who they convinced to come out of retirement.

SpongeBob's other best friend is a squirrel from the surface named Sandy Cheeks, who wears a special suit and helmet to survive underwater. SpongeBob first met Sandy when he saw her wrestling a giant clam, which he helped her defeat. Sandy then invited SpongeBob to her home, an airtight terrarium known as the Treedome, and SpongeBob, not knowing what air is, accepts. When he comes to the Treedome and realizes that there is no water, he begins drying up and attempts to survive without water, telling himself that he doesn't need it and that "Water is for quitters!" Eventually, however, he gives in and starts panicking. Eventually, Sandy gives SpongeBob and Patrick bowls of water to wear over their heads, which they typically wear whenever they visit the Treedome.

Unlike Patrick, Sandy is very intelligent, both technologically and practically, but is tolerant of SpongeBob's stupidity and enjoys his company, and in some episodes, it is implied that Sandy has even raised SpongeBob's intelligence considerably. They enjoy doing extreme sports together, most notably Karate. SpongeBob's skill in karate is shown to vary considerably between episodes; at times, he equals and even outmatches Sandy in skill, while at other times he is incompetent to the point where Sandy can send him flying a considerable distance with a single punch; in "Karate Island", Sandy openly states that her karate skills are better than SpongeBob's by "a country mile." SpongeBob has also, on various occasions, been hinted to have a crush on Sandy.

SpongeBob also attends Mrs. Puff's Boating School, where he is periodically tested for his driver's license. However, he becomes extremely nervous and reckless when behind the wheel of a boat, and has consistently failed his test countless times, often injuring Mrs. Puff and/or damaging the school and/or the entirety of Bikini Bottom in the process. According to the episode "Mrs. Puff, You're Fired", SpongeBob has failed the exam 1,258,056 times, and is the only person in the history of the school to ever fail it. In that same episode, Mrs. Puff describes SpongeBob as "unteachable". Despite his inability to properly drive a boat, SpongeBob has been shown to be able to drive/ride various other things capably, including a rock, a rocket ship, a sandwich and a submarine. SpongeBob claims that he does know how to drive, but simply panics behind the wheel and cannot concentrate. In "Mrs. Puff, You're Fired," SpongeBob receives extremely good training from Mrs. Puff's extremely tough military-esque replacement and learns how to drive capably, but can only do so while blindfolded due to the teacher's strict drills and very specific teaching methods.

Although SpongeBob has several friends, and many of the citizens of Bikini Bottom often treat him quite friendly, most, if not all, citizens of Bikini Bottom have been shown to have some degree of dislike for him. In the episode "Gone", it is shown that a holiday called "National No SpongeBob Day" has been started by the citizens of Bikini Bottom. As its name suggests, it is an entire day dedicated to getting away from SpongeBob, where the people leave Bikini Bottom for the day. Even Patrick goes, stating that everyone needs at least one day away from SpongeBob's laughter. In the ceremony, they build a giant wooden effigy of SpongeBob, burn it down, dance on the ashes (though some, like Squidward, are actually shown kicking the ashes), and depart Bikini Bottom. SpongeBob is more honored than insulted by this, as he was the "inspiration" for the holiday.

Sometimes, SpongeBob is a nudist. His tendency is to take off his clothes whenever he wants to. He was shown naked in Ripped Pants, Nature Pants, The Paper, Hooky, Pranks a Lot, All That Glitters, Rise and Shine, Overbooked, and Model Sponge. SpongeBob got nude when he wanted to live with the jellyfish in Nature Pants. And in Model Sponge, SpongeBob, got undressed when he is used in a sponge commercial. In Pranks a Lot, SpongeBob and Patrick had to strip in order to use the invisible spray. In Overbooked, during the presentation, he is requested to undress and enter the machine.

Family Guy

SpongeBob and Patrick in Family Guy

In the episode "Road to Rupert", after Peter Griffin has lost his driver's license, and his daughter Meg has volunteered to drive him around, she becomes annoyed by Peter's childish behavior. To distract him she puts in a SpongeBob SquarePants DVD, which includes the camping episode in which SpongeBob and his friend Patrick Star singing "The Campfire Song song". However, the scenes that were part of the episode were not brought with the audio, so SpongeBob and Patrick just dance around. As the audio is direct from "The Camping Episode", an episode directed by "Rupert" director Dan Povenmire, SpongeBob is voiced by Tom Kenny.

SpongeBob was invited by an unkown character to take place in races in which one will win a grand prize. However, a Mystery Rider plans to enter the race and win by any means. It is later discovered that the one who invited the Nicktoons as well as the Mystery Rider was none other than Sheldon J. Plankton

When The Evil Syndicate join forces to drain worlds out of their energy, Jimmy Neutron recruits SpongeBob SquarePants to help in stopping the villains from their draining. As they travel from world to world. the heroes discover that The Evil Syndicate are planning to use a Doomsday Device which will be used to destroy worlds in a matter of seconds. The villains attempt to attack them all at once, however this isn't enough to prevent their defeat. SpongeBob later unpluggs the Doomsday Machine and saves the world.

SpongeBob and his best friend Patrick Star deliver over a million Krabby Patties to a factory. However Patrick is captured and taken into the factory. SpongeBob goes in to try to find hi. SpongeBob rescues Patrick and they both encounter Tak who takes them into the main factory.